Friday, May 11, 2007

Trouble for China's Model Green City

A
much-ballyhooed plan of American architect William McDonough to build a
model environmentally sustainable city in China has gone awry.

WEB EXCLUSIVE

By Sarah Schafer

Newsweek

Updated: 9:15 p.m. ET May 10, 2007

May
10, 2007 - When American architect and industrial designer William
McDonough visited the Chinese village of Huangbaiyu in the summer of
2005, he brought a great message of hope. As the co-chair of the
China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development, McDonough was the
visionary behind an ambitious plan to transform the hamlet into a green
village—a model of ecologically balanced living (see “Building in Green,”
NEWSWEEK International, Sept. 26-Oct. 3, 2005). On that dusty summer
day, Chinese officials unveiled an ambitious project to build a new
village, with hundreds of energy-efficient homes constructed with
state-of-the-art material that would not harm the environment.

That
was two years ago. According to plan, by now the Huangbaiyu project
should have been well on its way to becoming a world model for
environmentally friendly living, not to mention the kind of
international cooperation between the developed and developing world
that many leaders say is essential to combat big environmental
problems. Instead, it has become a cautionary tale in what can go wrong
with grand plans to save the world from environmental catastrophe. The
project appears to be a mess. Construction of the 400 houses is way
behind schedule. The 42 that have been built still have no heat,
electricity or running water. Walls are already cracking and moisture
seeps through the ceilings. According to people who’ve worked on the
project, many of the houses don’t adhere to the original
specifications—meaning they could never achieve the energy savings they
were meant to achieve. The biomass gasification facility meant to burn
animal, human and agricultural waste, doesn’t work. Not surprisingly,
no one in the village has volunteered to move into the new community.

From
the beginning, the nonprofit China-U.S. Center (which has high-ranking
Chinese ministry officials and U.S. donors on its board) and the locals
seemed to have held vastly different expectations of what the project
should be and the benefits it should bring to Huangbaiyu. McDonough and
his team seemed convinced the local government and the villagers
understood that the Americans—including several major corporations who
provided technical expertise—were willing to supply the vision but not
the investment. But from early on, the locals thought the project would
bring them money and jobs—and were even convinced that one of the big
U.S. corporations would build a factory in the village. Even among
villagers who initially supported the program, it’s clear that the
concept of sustainable development, at least the way McDonough
envisions it, doesn’t mean much to them. Whereas McDonough meant living
in harmony with the environment, locals expected jobs. Village elder He
Wenfu, who voted in favor of the project, said he heard a lot of talk
about sustainable development and building a pretty village with a nice
lake, but essentially thought McDonough was “a guy with a lot of money
who would help the Chinese build factories.” He asks, “Why would they
develop this plan if they had no plans to invest in the village?”

The
master plan for the village, which McDonough designed with a team of
Chinese and Americans, was ambitious. It called for 400 houses to be
built by 2008—the first 150 were to have been completed by 2006. By
locating the houses in a centralized town center, the idea was to
create more available farmland for the villagers, many of whom derive
at least part of their income from farm work. Each house would be built
using local materials, all of which would be either biodegradable or
easily recyclable. To avoid creating pollution during the construction
process, the walls were to be made of pressed-earth blocks. Straw would
provide insulation for the homes. The community would be fueled by
energy from a biomass gasification plant, and eventually have a water
system that would conserve water. There were plans to build a new
school that would also be environmentally sound. The entire project was
to be implemented by a local entrepreneur, Dai Xiaolong, who would act
as the developer and put up an initial investment of about $250,000 (he
says he has invested four times that amount already). He was to receive
technical assistance from the China-U.S. Center, but the project was
originally supposed to be financed by the local government and Dai’s
company—with no funding from either the Chinese central government or
the center itself.

The plan looked great on
paper. Each house was supposed to cost no more than $3,500, but cost
overruns have doubled that figure. As a result, the new homes are too
expensive for Huangbaiyu villagers, who earn just under $1,000 a year
on average. Two families have moved in, but one told NEWSWEEK that they
had little choice in the matter. When their old homes were destroyed in
an electrical fire, provincial authorities gave them the choice of
putting any compensation the state gives to fire victims toward a down
payment for one of the new homes, or receive nothing. The families
don’t even seem to know about the original intent of the project. “I
don’t know why these houses were built,” said Yin Shiqin, who, after
the fire, moved into one of the new homes with her family six months
ago. When a NEWSWEEK reporter told her the homes were part of a larger,
environmental protection project, she giggled nervously. “Environmental
protection?” she asked, clearly not understanding the meaning of the
phrase.

The American team at the China-U.S.
Center, including McDonough, admit there have been more challenges than
they anticipated. One big problem was a change in county leadership,
which caused delays in funding for critical aspects of the project,
such as the electrical infrastructure. The American executive director
for the China-U.S. Center, Rick Schulberg, blames the local government
for underestimating what it would cost to develop a model village. He
also said that Dai moved too quickly in building the houses and that
his priority was not in making the houses environmentally friendly.
Feng Huandu, an environmental engineer who used to work on the project,
said that the houses weren’t built to the specifications called for in
the original plan—some materials not in the original specs were used.
(Dai has admitted to departing from McDonough’s plan, but wouldn’t get
into specifics.)

The
China-U.S. Center told local officials that villagers should not be
pressured into moving into the new homes, says Schulberg. The center
will soon send a team will go to the village to evaluate the homes that
have been built. The center also hopes to develop a manual sometime at
the end of this summer that will discuss its experiences—both good and
bad—in working with the village so that others can learn from the
experiment. “Would it have been better to ratchet down the
expectations? Absolutely,” Schulberg said, but added. “I have no doubt
that something good will come out of it.”

The
local Chinese seem less sure. Local leaders and farmers in the village
say they were led to believe the Americans would be building a big
factory, and that if the Americans don’t invest a huge amount—and
soon—the project might die. Former county party official Zhang Shuyuan
said he was led to believe that the Americans would eventually make a
big investment—and that one representative from the center told him
that as soon as the houses were built, factories and industry would be
moved in. Representatives from the center deny making any such
promises. Rumors of a big factory coming to town won’t seem to die,
however. “Mr. Dai doesn’t have any more money to continue this
project,” Zhang complains. “It was called a joint venture, but the
American side only shouted slogans and didn’t invest anything.”

Now,
most people involved in the project are trying to find ways to move
forward, but with more realistic expectations. Dai said the county
government has promised to give him enough money to at least finish the
42 houses that are standing. (The center has confirmed the Chinese
Ministry of Science and Technology has provided the county with the
needed funds.) McDonough says he now simply wants to build a school
that will provide village children with the same quality of education
they could receive in a city. That way, he said, children in Huangbaiyu
would not have to leave home to go to school during the week. He said
his team also continues to explore “small-scale” environmentally
friendly enterprises that would provide jobs and raise income levels in
the village. When talking about the Huangbaiyu project now, he no
longer uses lofty phrases or talks about changing the way the Chinese
live, as he did two years ago. “This is the hardest project I’ve ever
volunteered for,” he says. It’s like climbing a mountain, and we’re on
our way to getting the base camp stocked. I think we’re just at the
beginning.”